25 February 2024: Second Sunday of Lent B

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18	Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19	Rom 8:31b-34	Mk 9:2-10
RCL: Gn 17:1-7, 15-16		RCL: Rom 4:13-25	RCL: Mk 8:31-38

Lent: transfiguration, transformation, metanoia

In the season of Lent, the believing community follows Jesus as he is tested, transfigured, cleanses the temple, explains how God loves, and announces his hour has come. This week’s readings focus on trust that leads to change, transformation, and transfiguration.

First reading (Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18)

The first reading is from Genesis, the first book of Torah. Genesis tells the stories of the world’s creation, Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark and the flood, the Tower of Babel, and the lives of the patriarchs. Genesis introduces Hebrew and Christian scriptures’ key themes: God causes everything; there is only one God; God has a personal relationship with humans; the divine/human relationship is essential, applying not only to God’s relationship with people, but also to the peoples’ relationships with each other.

In today’s pericope, the Genesis author tells the story of “the binding of Isaac,” God’s test of Abraham’s faithfulness. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. In Isaac, God fulfills the promise of a son to Abraham, and, through Isaac, God will fulfill the promise of descendants “as numerous as the start in the sky.” Although God’s command jeopardizes God’s promise, Abraham faithfully trusts God’s command, without question or objection. In earlier stories Abraham advocates for himself (Gn 15:2-5) and for others (Gn 18:16-33, Gn 21:11), but in this story Abraham’s only response is “Here I am!” At the last moment, God’s angel intervenes, stopping Abraham’s sacrifice. God acknowledges Abraham’s faithfulness and again promises Abraham descendants, land (“take possession of your enemies’ gates”), and, through Abraham, blessings for all nations.

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because Christian interpreters see Isaac as a type for Jesus (a story in which a father sacrifices his son).

Second reading (Rom 8:31b-34)

The second reading is from Paul’s letter to the ekklesiai (multiple communities) in Rome. Romans, written in 56-57 AD, is Paul’s final letter. He has completed his missionary work in Asia and now plans a missionary trip to Spain, with a stop in Rome. He writes to the Roman believing communities to introduce himself and to give an authentic and acceptable account of the gospel he preaches.

In today’s pericope, Paul imagines he is in the courtroom of the Last Judgement, speaking for “God’s chosen ones.” Possibly quoting from an early creed or hymn, Paul describes what God has done for believers: God is for us (Rm 8:31); God handed over God’s own son for us (Rm 8:32); God acquits even the ungodly (Rm 8:33); Christ’s transformative death, resurrection, and glorification allows him to intercede with God for us (Rm 8:34). In sharing his experience of God, Paul provides a form and language through which believers can recognize and experience God themselves.

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because Paul uses the first reading’s Isaac typology (a father who hands over his son) to show God’s love and favor for believers.

Gospel (Mk 9:2-10)

Mark’s gospel is his version of Jesus’ transfiguration. This story is about transformation: Jesus’ transfiguration changes his disciples and changes how we see and understand who Jesus is.

• The disciples are changed. Peter’s mention of “tents” or “booths” refers to the Jewish feast of “booths” or “tabernacles,” a harvest festival. The feast celebrates not only the current harvest, but also looks forward to God’s end-time harvest. When Peter suggests “making three tents,” he recognizes that in Jesus’ transformation, God’s end time kingdom has arrived. The Greek word ἔκφοβος/ékphobos, translated here as “they were terrified,” is better translated as “they were filled with awe” at Jesus’ transformation. Jesus’ transfiguration transforms the disciples themselves: they are “awe-struck” by the goodness of God’s presence and by Jesus’ end-time messenger role.
• Our perception of Jesus changes. The Greek verb μεταμορφόω/metamorphóō, usually translated as “to be transfigured” actually means “to be meta-morphed,” implying not simply a change in appearance but also a change in state of being. For example, Mark says that Jesus’ clothes become “dazzling white, such as no earthly fuller could bleach them.” Mark may be recalling the prophet Malachi’s end time vision of God’s messenger: “for he is like the refiner’s fire or like the fuller’s lye, purifying the sons of Levi” (Mal 3:2). Mark suggests that Jesus’ transfiguration foreshadows not only Jesus’ glorious resurrection and enthronement, but also Jesus’ end-time return in glory.

Summary and reflection

Lent’s readings call us to walk with Jesus as he prepares for his transformative death. Today’s readings ask us to think about how trust engenders change (including metanoia, a change of mind/heart) and personal transformation. Abraham trusts that God will fulfill the covenant promises, despite Abraham’s unimaginable loss of Isaac. Paul expresses his confidence in all that God has done for believers in Christ, and trusts that God will continue to be for us throughout our lives and at the end time. Jesus’ transfiguration reveals his future glory to strengthen the disciples’ faith in Jesus and to trust in God’s revealed presence to transform them.

Throughout Lent, the readings call us to change our minds and hearts and to transform how we think and act. How does the great mystery of Jesus incarnation and the greater mystery of Jesus’ transformative death and resurrection engender trust in God’s promises? How does Paul’s vision of God being for us always, even when we were godless, change our ideas about our own self-worth and the inherent value of others? How does Jesus’ transfiguration change the way we think about the cross as a new creation and our place in God’s new creation?

—Terence Sherlock

18 February 2024: First Sunday of Lent B

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Gn 9:8-15	Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9	1 Pt 3:18-22	Mk 1:12-15
RCL: Gn 9:8-17			RCL: Mk 1:9-15

Lent: a discipleship journey that begins with baptism

In the season of Lent, the believing community follows Jesus as he is tested, transfigured, cleanses the temple, explains how God loves, and announces his hour has come. This week’s readings focus on metanoia (a change of mind/heart), baptism, and testing.

First reading (Gn 9:8-15)

The first reading is from Genesis, the first book of Torah. Genesis tells the stories of creation, Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark and the flood, the Tower of Babel, and the patriarchs. Genesis introduces Hebrew and Christian scriptures’ key themes: God causes everything; there is only one God; God has a personal relationship with humans; the divine/human relationship is essential, applying not only to God’s relationship with people, but also to the peoples’ relationships with each other.

In today’s pericope, the Genesis author tells the story of God’s personal relationship and promise to Noah and all living things (“I am now establishing my covenant with you, your descendants, and with every living creature”). Realizing something has gone wrong with humans, God destroys creation with “the waters of a flood” and re-creates the world, returning creation to a state of goodness. In the creation story, God gives the sabbath as a sign of God’s completed work (Gn 2:2-3); in the flood story, God gives the rainbow (“I set my bow in the clouds”) as the sign of God’s promise never again to destroy the world in this way. God repeats the word “covenant” five times in this pericope, highlighting the importance of the relationship between God and all creation.

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because Christian thought and typology interpret Noah’s flood as a type of baptism. Baptism is an important Lenten theme, especially for catechumens preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.

Second reading (1 Pt 3:18-22)

The second reading is from the first letter of Peter. An unknown author wrote this letter in Rome at the end of the first century, and sent it to gentile Christians in the eastern provinces. The author seeks to strengthen his hearers’ faith, reminding them of the hope that comes from Jesus’ transformative death and resurrection.

In today’s pericope, the author, in a passage dense with Hebrew scripture and liturgical references, recounts a key Christian belief (Christ died once for all humans) and connects Christ’s saving act with baptism. First, the author states the basic Christian belief: Christ, innocent and “righteous,” “suffered” and died on the cross to reconcile “unrighteous” humans with God. The author then connects Christ’s saving act with baptism. Christ’s transformative death (“in the flesh”) and resurrection (“brought to life in the spirit”) enable believers’ hope through baptism (“saved by water”). In baptism, believers participate in Christ’s death (by sinking under the baptismal waters) and resurrection (by rising out of the baptismal waters). In baptism, believers die to their sins and are made alive by the Spirit.

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because baptism engenders the hope of salvation, especially for catechumens preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.

Gospel (Mk 1:12-15)

Mark’s gospel give two side-by-side pictures of Jesus: a solitary human tempted in the wilderness, and a charismatic preacher announcing the good news of God’s nearness.

• Tempted in the wilderness (Mk 1:12-13). In this story, Jesus recapitulates the Israelites’ wilderness experience. He confronts Satan, whose kingdom of evil opposes the kingdom of God. Unlike Luke and Matthew, Mark’s temptation story is without a struggle: Jesus is among the wild beasts and ministering angels, suggesting a return to Eden (Gn 1:28, Gn 2:19-20) and a renewed creation (Is 11:6-9, Is 65:24-25). Jesus stands for unfallen humanity, one who is tempted but remains faithful.
• Preaching the good news (Mk 1:14-15). Mark’s phrase “the gospel of God” suggests continuity between the Baptizer’s message (Mk 1:4) and Jesus’ message (“Change your hearts/minds, and believe in the gospel.”) Jesus’ call to metanoia is not a warning, but a promise: God’s promised “time of fulfillment” is now; “God’s kingdom is near” in the person of Jesus. The “time of fulfillment” is not a point in time, but a personal recognition of God’s presence. The “kingdom of God” is not a place, but a way of living that aligns with God’s will.

Summary and reflection

Lent’s readings call us to walk with Jesus as he prepares for his transformative death. Today’s readings ask us to think about the baptism that initiated us into the believing community and our ongoing responsibilities as disciples. The Genesis author describes God’s covenant relationship with all living beings; God recreates the world, resetting creation to its original goodness. The First Peter author shows how baptism is a participation in Christ’s death and resurrection; baptism recreates believers, resetting them to their original goodness. Mark reminds his believing community that discipleship (begun with metanoia and baptism), does not exempt a believer from Satan’s temptations; Jesus invites and empowers disciples to live in God’s presence and to align themselves with God’s will.

As Lent begins, the readings call us back to the beginnings of our discipleship: hearing the gospel, recognizing God’s presence, metanoia (change of mind/heart), committing to the believing community, and choosing to be baptized as a sign and sacrament of discipleship. How do we honor our covenant relationships? Where do we find our original goodness? How do we ensure we are aligned with God’s will?

—Terence Sherlock

11 February 2024: Sixth Sunday of Ordinary time B

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Lv 13:1-2, 44-46	Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11	1 Cor 10:31-11:1	Mk 1:40-45
RCL: 2 Kgs 5:5-14

Discipleship and service: being God’s presence to others

During Ordinary time the Lectionary presents stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings focus on a disciple’s responsibility to make God present to others.

First reading (Lv 13:1-2, 44-46)

The first reading is from Leviticus, the third book of Torah. Leviticus mixes stories about the Israelites’ wilderness experience with legal and holiness codes. The book preserves liturgical and social observances that reveal God’s holiness, and teaches God’s people how to be holy as God is holy.

In today’s pericope, from the section on purity laws, God tells Moses and Aaron to identify and to isolate those with serious skin diseases. The ancients perceived and described illnesses differently from modern western medicine. (Scholars are unsure if modern leprosy [Hanson’s bacillus] existed in the Iron Age; biblical leprosy seems to describe psoriasis, lupus, ringworm, or favus.) Biblical “leprosy” regulations are not about medical pathology, but about ritual impurity. Purity laws banned unclean members from the community and from communal worship because uncleanness polluted the entire community’s holiness. Torah required a ritually impure or “unclean” person to “dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because it provides religious and social contexts for Jesus’ encounter with the leper in today’s gospel.

Second reading (1 Cor 10:31-11:1)

The second reading is the fifth and final part of a five-week, semi-continuous reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinth ekklesia. Paul writes to real flesh-and-blood people working out how best to live their faith. Paul teaches disciples to reject any words, actions, or distinctions that disrupt the community’s unity and holiness. Love is the basis and context for community life.

In today’s pericope, Paul attempts to instill the Christian ethic of concern for others. Christ’s selfless love is the model for a believer’s behavior. Christ’s words and actions always seek the good of the other and the glory of God. Paul, imitating Christ, urges the Corinthians to imitate him (“as I try to please everyone in every way”) and “do everything for the glory of God.” In this way believers avoid scandalizing (“giving offense”) those within the ekklesia (“church”) or outside (“Jews or Greeks”).

The Lectionary editors chose this reading to conclude Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from First Corinthians.

Gospel (Mk 1:40-45)

Mark’s gospel concludes the “typical day” at the start of Jesus’ ministry with an encounter and healing of a man with a serious skin disease.

• Leprosy in the ancient Near East. In the ancient world, the term λέπρα/lépra (= “leprosy”) and the designation λεπρός/leprós (= “a leper,” “one with a skin disease”) include a variety of skin disorders. The conditions Hebrew and Christian scriptures call “leprosy” actually refer to any number of common skin diseases (see the first reading). The issue was not the disease, but its visible manifestation, which marked someone as “unclean” or ritually impure. Such impurity risked the community’s purity or holiness.
• Jesus’ desire to serve: healing/saving. In Jesus’ time, healing leprosy requited divine intervention. The leper’s request (“If you wish to, you have the power to cleanse me”) assumes that Jesus embodies the power, authority, and will of God. The leper’s request moves Jesus to pity; he touches the leper as a means of blessing or healing. Jesus’ touch bridges the gap between the holy and the unclean. Jesus’ answer to the leper is better translated as “Of course I want to!” Jesus then uses the “divine passive,” invoking God as the one doing the healing. This divine passive command is better translated as “Let your healing be done!” That is, God accomplishes your healing.
• The healer becomes the outcast. Torah stipulated that unclean people live outside the camp during the wilderness wanderings (Lv 13:48), or outside villages in Judea, in the “empty places” between settlements. After he touches and heals the leper, Jesus becomes like the leper, unable to enter the villages and living in the empty places. As part of his mission to serve others, Jesus trades places with the now-healed leper; as part of healing the man’s leprosy, Jesus takes on leprosy’s social and ritual isolation.

Summary and reflection

This week’s readings ask us to think about what we see in others and what others see in us. The Leviticus author describes leaders’ roles in recognizing and treating ritual and social impurity, and how leaders can restore the community’s purity and holiness. Paul urges believers to imitate Christ by seeing the good of others and the glory of God. Jesus responds to the leper’s request with compassion, human touch, and divine healing.

Discipleship means that we serve as God’s continuing and active presence in the world. Our words and actions make the invisible God visible to others. Do we see God in others, especially the culturally or socially “unclean?” When we encounter others, do we act in God’s place and for God’s glory, recognizing other peoples’ intrinsic good and acting in their best interests? When others encounter us, do they see compassion, experience a human touch, and recognize a desire to bring healing?

—Terence Sherlock

4 February 2024: Fifth Sunday of Ordinary time B

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Job 7:1-4, 6-7	Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6	1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23	Mk 1:29-39
RCL: Is 40:21-31		RCL: 1 Cor 9:16-23

Fitting discipleship and mission into a busy life

During Ordinary time the Lectionary presents stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings focus on discipleship, mission, and the burdens of everyday life.

First reading (Job 7:1-4, 6-7)

The first reading is from the book of Job, a post-exilic Wisdom writing that took final form in the fourth century BC. Like other Wisdom writings, Job begins from the human point of view. Job is trying to live wisely every day; when his life falls apart (he loses his family, his wealth, and his health), he begins questioning God and God’s way. Job’s story invites readers to work out their own solutions to Job’s dilemma of why a just person suffers.

In today’s pericope, Job laments that his life has become a struggle (“I have been assigned months of misery”), like all other humans (“life on earth [is a] a drudgery”). The poetic image “my days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; / and are spent without hope” contains a Hebrew pun. The Hebrew word תִּקְוָה/tiqvâh means both “thread” and “hope.” The weaver’s shuttle moves thread back and forth across the loom; just as weaving ends when the thread runs out, so also life ends when hope runs out. Job’s poetic lament ends in despair (“I shall not see happiness again”).

The Lectionary editors chose this reading because human miseries provide a backdrop for Jesus’ physical and spiritual healings in the gospel.

Second reading (1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23)

The second reading is the fourth part of a five-week, semi-continuous reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinth ekklesia. Paul writes to real flesh-and-blood people working out how best to live their faith. Paul teaches disciples to reject any words, actions, or distinctions that disrupt the community’s unity and holiness. Love is the basis and context for community life.

Just before today’s reading, Paul builds a case for his apostolic freedom and his right to support from the Corinth community for his teaching. In today’s pericope, Paul renounces his freedom and his rights to give the Corinth believing community a model of Christian service.

In the pericope’s first part, Paul explains that he preaches the gospel “unwillingly” because God has imposed the “obligation” on Paul. If Paul preached “willingly,” the Corinth believing community (his “stewardship”) would owe him support or payment (“recompense”). Instead, Paul renounces his right to the community’s support (“not make full use of my right”), offering “the gospel free of charge.”

In the pericope’s second part, Paul describes his reason for renouncing his apostolic right (“I am free”): he places himself in service to everyone (“a slave to all”) to win as many people as possible to the gospel. Some powerful people in Corinth exercise their legal rights to oppress and to destroy the socially, politically, or financially weak. Paul chooses to live constrained (“I became weak”) by others’ beliefs “to save at least some.” Paul’s enslavement to others is, paradoxically, true freedom to serve others’ needs.

The Lectionary editors chose this reading to continue Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from First Corinthians.

Gospel (Mk 1:29-39)

Mark’s gospel concludes Jesus’ “typical day” at the start of his ministry. Today’s pericope continues from last week’s authoritative teaching and powerful exorcism: Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, heals Capernaum’s physically and spiritually sick, prays in private, and continues his mission.

• Discipleship. At first glance, the cure of Simon’s mother-in-law looks like a healing story. English translations often bury two important messages. First, Jesus “raises up” (ἐγείρω/egeírō) the woman. This is the same word Mark uses to describe Jesus’ resurrection (Mk 14:28, Mk 16:6). This story foreshadows Jesus’ own raising up and foreshadows the raising of all humans. Second, the woman immediately begins to “serve” or “give hospitality” (διακονέω/diakonéō). This is the same word Mark uses when Jesus says he has come “not to be served, but to serve” (Mk 10:45). Simon’s mother-in-law becomes the first person in Mark’s gospel to act as Jesus does, something his new disciples don’t yet understand (they are happy to be served).
• Action vs contemplation. Mark shows Jesus engaged in ministry (“For this I have come”) and in private prayer (“He went off to an empty place and prayed there)”. In Galilee, people called the spaces between villages deserted or empty places; Mark’s use of “deserted places” here recalls Jesus’ time in the wilderness (Mk 1:3-13). Mark recognizes the tension between Jesus’ outreach to heal/save and his need to withdraw for private conversation with God. This story suggests that even in the empty places/wilderness Jesus cannot escape the crowds that need his healing/saving.

Summary and reflection

This week’s readings ask us to think about the balance between real life, discipleship’s service, and conversation with God. Job finds real human life so overwhelming he has no time for others. Paul finds time in his busy life to serve everyone. Jesus’ mission to bring God’s reign near through healing and teaching consumes his days, but he makes time to reflect with his Father.

Discipleship is demanding. Our lives can already be so filled with family, work, and friends that adding others who need our attention and service seems impossible. We often have no “empty spaces” for self-reflection and prayer. Yet, in the middle of “full catastrophe living,” God still calls all humans to serve others and encounter the divine. To whom to can give hospitality? Whom can we heal with a simple word or action? Where can we make time to pray? Where is our deserted place to meet God? To what personal mission is God calling us?

—Terence Sherlock